1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of fishing. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of a fishing lure configured for fastening to a fishing line. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of a fishing lure that rotates.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The difficulty in simulating the appearance of natural swimming as seen in certain elongated swimming aquatic animals, such as certain sea or freshwater snakes, eels, lizards or elongated fish, is well known in the field of fishing lure development.
One of the characteristics of natural swimming in certain elongated swimming aquatic animals is that, while swimming, portions of the animal's body rhythmically transversely cross the primary longitudinal axis of the general direction in which the animal is swimming. This rhythmic transverse crossing results in portions of the animal's body but not all of the animal's body moving from side-to-side. Furthermore, the side-to-side motion of portions of the animal's body may be described as undulation and may be observed to be of large magnitude. The magnitude of this body undulation observed in nature in certain elongated swimming aquatic animals is often related more to the length of the animal's body than to any other dimension. When the magnitude of said body undulation is measured as the total positional width of the animal's body at any point in time during swimming it may be observed that the magnitude of undulation may be in the range of around 10% to over 100% of the animal's positional body length while swimming as measured from head to tail along the primary axis of the direction of swimming. When the magnitude of said body undulation is measured as the distance a given point on the animal's body moves transversely away from the primary longitudinal axis of the general direction in which the animal is swimming, the magnitude of undulation may be in the range of 5% to over 50% of the animal's positional body length as measured from head to tail along the primary axis of the direction of swimming. In addition to the said body undulation, the head is also naturally wobbles from side-to-side, and the tail flexes back and forth. Head wobbling, large magnitude body undulation and tail flexure of elongated swimming aquatic animals while swimming do not occur independent of one another. Rather, they occur in relation to one another in a manner controlled by the physiology of the animal.
Several approaches have been tried to simulate the natural swimming appearance described above. One approach includes an elongated, snakelike body formed of resilient material that has a series of U-shaped sections. This configuration, when not moving has the unnatural appearance of a snake at rest with a body fixed in a strongly curved position as if swimming. When moving, the lure has the unnatural appearance of a snake in the shape of a swimming snake, without undulation, and is simply dragged through the water in a relatively fixed shape.
By adjusting the resilience of the material of a snakelike body having a series of U-shaped sections a certain degree of elongating and contracting has been achieved. Unfortunately, the natural signature of an elongated aquatic animal when it is swimming is not primarily elongation and contraction but rather the body undulation where certain points on the animal's body move with a large magnitude from one side of the primary swimming direction axis, to the other side, as previously described.
Another approach has been to form a helical spiral body. Such a body shape, however, is rarely observed, either statically or dynamically, in elongated swimming aquatic animals.
Segmented lures composed of several movably connected sections have been tried, but suffer from not being nor appearing smoothly continuous in form as is observed in nature.
Another approach has been to form an elongated body of resilient material that is formed in the shape of a ribbon for either the entire length of the lure or for a portion of the length of the lure, such as the tail portion. Resilient ribbon structures for use as fishing lures are typically formed in either a flat or as a spiral shape. Additionally, a modified type of ribbon structure that has a T-shaped cross section has been observed. Resilient ribbon structures when pulled through water do exhibit a type of undulation, but the undulation observed is unfortunately of small magnitude and may more resemble rapid fluttering. Such motion may serve as a useful attractant, but may not well-simulate the desired specific natural swimming characterized by larger magnitude body undulation.
Another approach observed is a variation in which a body portion is formed separately from a head and said body portion angularly oscillates about a pivot point between the head and body portions when the lure is moved through water. This approach creates a certain degree of wobbling side to side or up and down, but fails to create large magnitude body undulation.
A variety of jig head lures, with and without lips, integrated with a pliable body are known, but unfortunately do not achieve the large magnitude body undulation required to strongly simulate the desired swimming aquatic animals.
Another approach observed entails a simple Aberdeen style hook having no head and intended for use primarily with live bait, such as worms. The design includes a bend in the hook shank area to displace bait volume primarily in the hook shank area to create rotation when pulled through the water. This approach causes the hook and bait to rotate when pulled through water, but does not create the appearance of large magnitude undulation and does not create any head wobbling.
Accordingly, what is needed is a fishing lure design configured to better represent a natural swimming motion of an elongated aquatic animal. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.
All referenced publications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a reference, which is incorporated by reference herein, is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.